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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26085313">oh, i will poison all your happy thoughts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/realxeyez/pseuds/realxeyez'>realxeyez</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kamen Rider Zero-One</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kamen Rider Zero-One Spoilers, Takes Place Mid-Ep 44, vomiting mention</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:34:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,245</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26085313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/realxeyez/pseuds/realxeyez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>peace and quiet is hard to find when you're a criminal on the run. it's even harder when the evil clone of your dead best friend has made it her job to annoy the shit out of you at any given moment.</p><p>life is great for aruto hiden, truly.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hiden Aruto/Izu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>oh, i will poison all your happy thoughts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi this is the author from the future (april 2021) i've edited this fic a lil since i rewrote some of it for a university portfolio. hope u enjoy if ur reading this for the first time or rereading it :]</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>metsubou jinrai's base has the looks of an active war zone and the smell of a rotting corpse combined with motor oil- it absolutely permeates the dilapidated building, and aruto feels as if he could puke. </p><p>could being the key word, since that would require any sort of energy and he's practically about to pass out any second now. puking his guts up only to wake up in a puddle of whatever nutrients could be found in his dehydrated body didn't seem like a fun idea. </p><p>looking back on it, maybe accepting some shitty computer virus that fed on negative emotions and amplified them wasn't exactly his best decision. Somehow, it ends up topping his world class idea of pursuing a comedy career with the skills of someone who can only tell shitty puns; though, at the very least he didnt find himself passing out due to malnutrition on a daily basis. could ark at least order him ubereats or something? 'uh hi, i know i just killed a guy but i'm really craving a big mac right now.'</p><p>aruto buries his face into his hands, sinking into the oil stained couch. it squeaks beneath his weight, used to robots sitting on it and not actual humans. had he really been so out of it that he's making jokes about the whole thing? he killed jin just a few hours ago- and for the second time, too! he had wanted to get back at horobi for killing the first person who truly believed in his dream- to destroy what previously destroyed. but not even ark's capabilities had prepared him for jin taking the hit. </p><p>(a part of him feels bitter that jin gave his life up for someone like horobi, who had treated him like shit for so long. sure aruto believed in second chances, but pushing your son off a roof was pushing it. horobi had let jin's death be in vain, and it's what annoys aruto the most.)</p><p>he knows it's horrible of him to feel more guilty about jin's second death compared to the first, but at this point he's become a certified humagear killing machine and whatever argument he could make about inherent evil would be moot. </p><p>hah. to think he used to fight for humagear and now he's fighting them... the urge to perform his usual show and dance of 'aruto ja naiiito!' is almost morbid, and he laughs lowly to himself. what the fuck had happened to him? the way he let go of his ideals so quickly and so easily makes him wonder how much he truly believed in humagear. it's hypocritical, to spend months upon months trying to prove that the actions of a few humans don't equate to the majority but go apeshit when one humagear does something bad to him personally. </p><p>if horobi deserved to die back there, aruto doesn't truly know. the tendrils of ark's influence tangle up his thoughts, poisoning him with destruction and despair, but at the very least he's able to think coherently outside of the suit. his opinion on horobi is tainted by the fact that he killed izu- how could he ever forgive someone like that? all she wanted was to help, to make horobi smile, and that asshole had just shot her with his stupid bow-</p><p>"it's unlike you to think so deeply like this." from the crumbling doorway comes a scratchy voice, the sound almost like nails on a chalkboard for aruto. he's trained himself to sever any sort of familiarity he had with the voice- it barely registers to him at this point. more like a sign that any sort of peace and quiet he has on the run is over. "you must have something serious tumbling around in there! new material for your failed stand up career?"</p><p>at first, azu had been a crutch. it felt so easy to go from mourning izu to letting azu help him with whispers of revenge and ruin. letting this anger into his heart was almost natural in a sick, twisted way. azu seemed so kind in his grief- she looked just like her. but it was clear soon after than azu and izu's differences were more than just the former's long hair. </p><p>when she realised aruto would play along without need for intervention, she had dropped any pretense of caring about him. not that he ever believed in the first place, but her coos of 'aruto shacho!' in izu's warm tone had quickly become venomous taunts when she wasn't busy pining after ark. he was too caught up mourning the loss of izu and his humanity to care about her change, but his lack of attention had caused azu to amp up her attitude tenfold. it even seemed like azu genuinely enjoyed trying to get under his skin, despite the fact that her goal should've been just to prey on his despair</p><p>"what do you want?" he spits out, barely sparing a glance in her general direction. he’d rather not acknowledge her existence, but she doesn’t take too kindly to being ignored. </p><p>azu is the bane of his existence, and she revels in it. </p><p>“i can’t check up on my favourite human? who knows what you could be doing in here all alone.” she coos, skipping towards the couch with a haughty smile. it looks unnatural on what was once izu’s face- on the verge of the uncanny valley. everything about azu is like that, as if she existed solely to drive him crazy with such obvious disregard for izu’s memory. “wouldn’t want you to off yourself so quickly, would we?” </p><p>as if he could. being ark’s ‘perfect’ host, there’s no way azu would let him hurt himself physically. emotionally was perfectly fine, but she had almost throttled him when he came back from the fight with fuwa covered in multitudes of bruises. maybe if he closed his eyes and thought real hard, he could’ve imagined it was izu carefully patching up his wounds. azu practically waterboarding him with shitty antiseptic really brought him out of the daydream though. </p><p>when he doesn’t answer, azu lets out a lamenting sigh and comes to stand above him. wisps of black and green brush against his hoodie as she pinches his cheek teasingly. </p><p>"are you sulking again?"</p><p>aruto quickly slaps her hand away, rubbing furiously at the red mark left behind. one of the worst things about the humagear was her clinginess- he wonders if she was purposely programmed to be the opposite of izu in all aspects, from speech to mannerisms. izu was more gentle in the way she interacted with the world around her, showing care for even those who didn't deserve it. aruto thinks azu would be the type to be some sort of saturday morning villain, and the thought would make him laugh if he wasn't absolutely void of positive emotions at the current second. </p><p>"can you go away? i’m not in the mood for this." he's aware that he sounds like a snotty teenager, but it's rare for him to be in the mood for azu's heckling. she looks positively beside herself, red stained lips pulled into a smarmy grin. </p><p>"hm?" she pretends to look thoughtful, tapping a finger against her cheek before pointing a black nail in his direction. "i was just giving you what you wanted. that little assistant of yours would never be this playful with you, after all!" red eyes peer at him through the dimness, sparkling with as much amusement as a robot could possibly express. </p><p>aruto's fists clench against his pants, finally meeting azu's eyes. he knows he shouldn’t react- it’s like all those anti-bullying spiels he heard during high school- but azu seems to know exactly what to say to garner a reaction. poking and prodding at his wounds like a fucked up doctor, taking pleasure in his suffering. when he first met azu, with only the knowledge of ark’s inclination towards the adverse aspects of humanity handy, he would’ve written this off as the messenger trying to fish for these negative feelings to fuel ark’s power.</p><p>now? she’s just fucking with him for her own freaky amusement. </p><p>“leave me alone, azu.” aruto barely gets the words out in his annoyance, glaring daggers at the humagear. he’s hunched over on the couch now, and he’d leave if azu wasn’t practically trapping him in place. she might not look it, but she has the strength of a fucking wrestler, and he isn't in the mood to test how far she can throw him across daybreak town.</p><p>azu knows better, of course. her expression is ecstatic, eyes shining like a predator who’s just spotted their prey, and it puts the fear of god into aruto. “is that all you can say? i bet if i were izu, you wouldn’t be saying that!” her smile is terrifying as she curls a strand of his hair around a finger, tauntingly. “but i’m not, am i? she wouldn’t do these things to you- poor little izu wouldn’t be caught dead being so close to her president.” </p><p>aruto can’t hide his wince, moving his head so his hair falls from azu’s grasp. she’s taunted him about a lot of things, but never this. he hadn't thought she had taken notice of his feelings towards his assistant, but it doesn't come as a surprise. azu's partially made up of her data, after all. all he can do is deny her remarks, even if they both know the truth her words hold.</p><p>“she’s my assistant,” the present tense probably doesn’t help his case, “i get that you’re getting bored with the lack of murder right now, but don’t you have anything better to do than annoy me?”</p><p>azu swivels to face the other side of the base, hair fluttering behind her. “not really.” she hums almost lethargically, head tilted like she’s thinking to herself. “i thought you liked it when izu played along with you?”</p><p>he laughs- a harsh, short sound. “stop pretending you’re anything like her. i'm past deluding myself into believing that you're izu- i'm not going to fall into your arms just because i miss her.”</p><p>all he gets is a shrug, azu caught up in fiddling with her nails. “it doesn’t sound too bad, honestly.” she holds a hand out, frowning at the polish coating her nails. teal isn’t the best colour on her, but it'll have to do. “after all, the real izu would never love you.”</p><p>aruto blinks, processing her words. “h...huh?”</p><p>she tilts her head back, eyelashes fluttering almost teasingly. “that’s what you wanted from the beginning, right? you fell into my arms because you thought i looked like izu- why not keep the farce going? it’ll benefit the both of us-”</p><p>“...shut up.” he stands up quickly, stumbling as he tries to leave the room. “don’t talk about me like you know me-” he wants to snap at her, to tell azu to jump into daybreak’s lake and drown, but something is stopping him. he doesn’t know what, but the way azu turns to him with an amused grin makes him think she does. </p><p>it’s her turn to laugh, the tinkling sound echoing around the concrete room. “go on, hit me. all i’ve done is make your life a living hell, so why don’t you take it out on me? it’d be so easy- i’m just a humagear, after all.” </p><p>a second go by. then ten, twenty, fifty, until the two are standing face to face in complete silence. aruto doesn’t meet her eyes, but he knows what her expression is; gleeful. it burns to be beneath her gaze, but he thinks it might just be the heat of embarrassment crawling up his neck. </p><p>“oh, you can’t?” azu looks ecstatic, “you’ve hurt so many people who didn’t deserve it- you’ve killed the humagears you swore to protect- but not me? what are you so afraid of, aruto hiden? you’re not bound to me, i’m just the messenger here. ark wouldn’t do anything if you decided to rip me apart.” </p><p>he finally looks at her, suspicion taking root. she’s obviously trying to get at something, but he doesn’t quite know what exactly. learning what goes on in azu’s fucked up head isn’t appealing in the least, but it’s bugging him. “just spit it out, azu.”</p><p>azu rolls her eyes at him, tutting at his impatience. “your head really is that empty, huh? i didn’t choose you as ark’s host just so you could stumble your way through discussions with the grace of a headless chicken, you know. just think a little about this situation, maybe you’ll catch on.”</p><p>when he doesn’t say anything and just glares at her, azu has to push down her anger. she enjoys getting a rise out of aruto, don’t get her wrong, but it’s awfully fucking annoying when he plays dumb like this. maybe he really is this braindead and can’t figure out the simplest of implications, but she doesn’t care to find out. </p><p>“i have her face- i'm sure you can figure the rest out yourself."</p><p>and with that, she exits the room. she’d love to stay and observe aruto’s expressions, but there’s another person she needs to taunt about their deceased loved one. it’d be selfish of aruto to hog all her time, after all. </p><p>(the ark scorpion progrisekey feels warm in her hand- serving her master just feels so, <em>so</em> right.)</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>is aruto ooc? maybe. sadly i have a habit of taking two characters and making them evil little bitches to eachother, so lets pretend azu has more character than just 'shes evil and yandere for ark'.</p><p>the aruizu here isnt like established or anything. not super platonic but its mostly onesided on arutos part. im not going into depth on my aruizu dynamics here</p><p>also i wrote this while playing the current kr city wars event. if i scouted for burning falcon five times no i didn't &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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